Houston vs. Tulsa Postgame Quotes
1/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2011
Head Coach Todd Buchanan
On his initial thoughts on the game
"I'm really proud of our basketball team. I felt like we guarded as well tonight as we have the whole year. As a coaching staff we really challenged them after the loss against Georgetown. Obviously, we were without (senior forward) Courtney (Taylor) and felt like we didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle together. I'm not using that as an excuse. I made a comment that was half-joking and half-serious about us becoming a better coaching staff with Courtney back than we were before.
"Tonight we wanted to go to her early and often, which we did. I felt like that made all the difference in the world and that's why she's the Conference Player of the Year and the preseason Conference Player of the Year. My big challenge to them was to get it back into the defensive mindset, to guard like we did against Nebraska and Marist. I really feel like our defense has been the catalyst for us all year. I'm very pleased with that and very happy with the rebounding situation. I was pleased to get everyone into the basketball game and being smart with minutes."
On starting the Conference USA season with a win
"It's everything. The old cliché is `you play to win the next game on the schedule.' This is big; this is for everything. From the day I took the job, I said the goal was going to be to win the regular season Conference USA Championship, then go to El Paso, Texas and win the conference tournament. Then we will go to the NCAA Tournament and these kids can reap the rewards that I feel like they truly deserve. You can't lose home games and that's why tonight was certainly huge."
On the defensive performance by senior forward Lesslee Mason
"Lesslee is amazing. She is an amazing player and has grown so much. She's so deceiving, because I think people look at her and see a post player. She's not just incredibly strong, but she's also so quick and athletic. What's more, and probably the best thing going for her, is her basketball IQ is extremely high. She has that canny ability of timing everything where she gets that steal or that deflection."
On turnovers being a concern
"We had five at half. They're always a concern. We had 15 the second half. Yes, it is certainly a concern. I probably won't be quite as concerned given the fact that everybody played, so we had kids playing that haven't played a whole lot of minutes. I know I'm going to have to give a little to receive in the end. They are going to have to learn through experience and gaining confidence in conference play. So, I'm concerned but I'm not freaked out about it."
On going to SMU
"SMU wasn't in the conference when I was here before, but I obviously kept up with things. It's always been a huge rivalry - them and TCU (were both big rivals of ours). It used to be us and TCU, which still exists outside of conference. Now SMU has predominately taken that rivalry. They're in Texas and they're in our conference, so we have to do everything we can do to prepare to go on the road and win. For the most part, we've done a really good job of playing well on the road up to this point. That's something else we can attribute to having a senior-laden team."
Senior Forward Courtney Taylor
On how it feels to be back
It feels good to be back. I'm glad to be back and help contribute to the teams' win."
On conference play starting
"I'm excited. We've been close to winning conference since I've been here and it's our last go-around. We want to pick up the tempo and just win."
On her knee injury being the cause of her playing fewer minutes
"I think I'm fine, just being cautious. No reason for me to stay out there if we have a comfortable lead."
Senior Forward Lesslee Mason
On what was different with tonight's efforts
"I think everything was different. Our team flows different when Courtney is playing with us. We just felt more comfortable and that a piece of the puzzle was filled again. We are just glad to have her back."
On the team's defense tonight
"Coach always emphasizes that if we defend we can beat anybody. We've been committing a lot of turnovers during the last few games. Your offense will come from your defense. We just really focused on defense tonight and fed off of it."
Senior Guard Brittney Scott
On the difference shown by the team on Thursday
"Along with Courtney coming back, we decided as a team that we need to get focused. It's Conference USA time and it's a totally new season. We want to come out on top."
On the start of the game
"We were pumped up. We had two intense practices and were ready to start conference."
On how it felt to win big Thursday night
"We were trying to make a statement and send a message to the other teams in conference to let them know they have to come through us."
